Using Phonemic Awareness to Teach Reading and Spelling · A SOUND APPROACH Using Phonemic Awareness to Teach Reading and Spelling Laura A. Robbins and Heather A. Kenny Illustrated

A SOUND APPROACHUsing Phonemic Awareness to Teach Reading and Spelling

Laura A. Robbins and Heather A. Kenny Illustrated by Ken Stampnick

Sample Pages

Portage & Main Press

© 2007 by Laura A. Robbins and Heather A. Kenny

Portage & Main Press acknowledges the fi nancial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

All rights reserved. Except as noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Kenny, Heather A

A Sound approach : using phonemic awareness to teach reading and spelling / Heather A. Kenny and Laura A. Robbins.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-55379-145-4

1. Reading—Phonetic method. 2. English language—Orthography and spelling—Study and teaching (Elementary). I. Robbins, Laura II. Title.

LB1573.3.K453 2007 372.46’5 C2007-906026-9

100-318 McDermot Ave.Winnipeg, MB Canada R3A 0A2Email: [email protected]: 204-987-3500Toll-free: 1-800-667-9673Fax-free: 1-866-734-8477 Printed on 30% PCW paper

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Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Phonemic Awareness, Decoding, and Encoding 9

Chapter 2: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Alphabetic Coding 19

Chapter 3: Activities for Large Groups, Small Groups, or Pairs 35 Part 1: Ten Phonemic Awareness Activities 35 Part 2: Six Decoding and Encoding Activites 44 Reproducible Masters for the Activities 49

Chapter 4: Lesson Plans for Small Groups or Individuals 83 Part 1: Seven Lessons for Teaching the Simple Sounds 88 Part 2: Four Lessons for Teaching Consonant Digraphs 98 Part 3: Six Lessons for Teaching Vowel Digraphs 101 Reproducible Masters for the Lesson Plans 107

Appendixes Story Starters and Riddles 190 Action Pages 203 Visual Strips 229 Pictures Pages and Words-and-Pictures Pages 231

Bibliography 257

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Introduction

Arianna* sighed and gazed at her friends before turning her attention back to her teacher. The other children were happily engaged in a game of make-believe at the classroom house-center, which involved

many props and a great deal of giggling. But Arianna sat, small and silent, at a table at one end of the classroom staring at the simple three-letter word before her. She knew what was expected of her, as this was by no means the fi rst such session. Laura, who was her kindergarten teacher at the time, pointed to the word bat, printed in perfect ball-and-stick block letters, and said encouragingly, “Arianna, I want you to say each sound, then read the word.” Arianna dutifully responded “/b/ - /a/ - /t/” as Laura pointed to each letter in turn. But, when Laura asked hopefully, “Now what word does that spell?” Arianna responded with her usual blank stare.**

After several more attempts, Laura tried a new tactic. “Okay, Arianna, look at the letters while I say the sounds: /b/ - /a/ - /t/. What does that spell? /b/ - /a/ - /t/.” More blank stares. Undaunted, Laura switched gears yet again. “Arianna, don’t look at the letter. Just look at me. Watch my mouth. What word am I saying? /b/ - /a/ - /t/. /B/ /aaaaaaaaaaaa/ /t/. Baaaaaaaaaaaat. What word am I saying?” Poor Arianna knew that she would not be able to play make-believe at the house-center until she responded correctly. “Box? Book?” she asked desperately, searching her teacher’s eyes, as if to read the answer there.

The session ended, as did all the previous ones, when Laura fi nally took pity on Arianna for having sat so long and so patiently. “That’s the word bat, Arianna. Let’s read the word together: baaaaat.” And with that, Arianna bounded off to the house-center, leaving Laura shaking her head in consternation. What puzzled her was that Arianna knew all 26 letters of the alphabet and the sounds most commonly represented by those letters. Why then, could she not sound out words?

*Some students' names have been changed.** In this volume, phonemes are represented by common spelling patterns and are enclosed in slash marks.

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2 A Sound Approach

That event took place almost a decade and a half ago. At that time, Laura was an experienced primary teacher and I had just recently graduated with my teaching degree. The high-needs urban elementary school where we taught was overcrowded and, while we each had our own kindergarten classes, we shared the same classroom. We believed then, as we do now, that the most important gift we could give our students was a strong foundation of literacy skills, and the majority of our efforts were directed at laying that foundation. Alongside many constructivist methods, we taught our students “old-school phonics.” We taught them to identify the shapes and sounds of letters and then encouraged them to “sound out” unfamiliar words as needed. Armed with the ability to identify by sight a handful of frequently used words, most of our students were off to a good start, enthusiastically decoding simple texts. But we were puzzled and intrigued by students who, like Arianna, knew the names and sounds of the letters but could not sound out words.

Our initial solution was to give students like Arianna more instruction in phonics. Our rationale was simple: if they could not do it, then they must need more practice. We gave them practice in small groups with manipulatives; we gave them pen-to-paper activities; we coached them individually. Ironically, the students in our classes who could do the phonics activities were the ones who did not seem to need the practice, whereas the students who seemed to need the practice could not master the activities. No matter how many phonics activities we threw at them, students like Arianna simply could not sound out words. By the end of that year, we had given up on phonics instruction entirely for them and had adopted a strictly wholistic approach to reading. In our heart of hearts, however, we knew that we had failed them.

The following year, Arianna had moved on, but some of our new students were experiencing the same diffi culties. We were determined to fi nd a way to reach these students. We started by surveying the existing literature relating to reading instruction and came across a surprising number of studies that linked phonemic awareness to reading ability. At that time, few of our colleagues could not even pronounce the term, let alone defi ne it. We decided that, if phonemic awareness was so important to reading acquisition, then we would learn enough about it to be able to teach our students.

Since that time, we have learned that decoding, or a child’s ability to sound out words, is dependent on two factors. First, the child must have an understanding of how the alphabet works as a code for speech sounds. Arianna already knew that the letter b represented the sound /b/, the letter a represented the sound /a/, and so on. What was missing was the second piece of the puzzle: the child’s phonemic awareness, that is, the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds, or phonemes, that comprise

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3

spoken words. Arianna’s story is a cautionary tale. Had we understood the concept phonemic awareness and its signifi cance to the acquisition of literacy skills, we would have provided Arianna with instruction targeted to develop her phonemic awareness and consequently her decoding skills. Arianna’s problem was not that she could not learn through phonics but, rather, that her underdeveloped phonemic awareness prevented her from being able to access phonics as an effective reading strategy.

For the next decade, we continued to read and investigate phonemic awareness through the academic literature and through our own teaching practice. We worked collaboratively to develop and refi ne a phonemically driven approach to reading and spelling for both beginning and struggling readers. We began conducting professional-development seminars, fi rst for teachers at local school boards, then at reading conferences across North America. Laura completed her master of education degree, specializing in literacy, and in her master’s thesis she examined the phonemic awareness skills of kindergarten students. She took a position as a special-education teacher, conducting school-based action research that examined the effects of phonemic awareness instruction on the reading skills of struggling readers in grades one to eight. She is currently a literacy coach and resource teacher in Burlington, Ontario.

I resigned from my elementary-school teaching position and began working privately as an educational consultant, specializing in phonemic intervention and remediation. The students I tutored were identifi ed with, or considered to be at-risk for, reading and/or spelling disabilities. I completed my master of education degree, specializing in literacy, and the focus of my master’s thesis was on the intersection of professional development and teachers’ knowledge of phonemic awareness. I am currently a full-time doctoral student and have taught literacy courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Toledo.

This book is the result of our ongoing investigations. Since that time almost 15 years ago when we taught Arianna, we have developed and refi ned a phonemically driven approach to reading and spelling instruction. We have taught hundreds of beginning and struggling readers, aged fi ve to 14 in large groups, in small groups, and individually, and we have had the kind of success that years ago we never would have dreamed possible. We have taught and learned from beginning readers; young students identifi ed with reading and spelling problems, and other learning disabilities; and older students who, despite having undergone years of remedial instruction, still struggled with reading. With very few exceptions, our students have experienced great success. Laura now claims that, fi nally, after 30 years in the profession, she knows how to teach reading. Our goal in writing this book is to share what we have learned from other researchers and, just as important, what we have

Introduction

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4 A Sound Approach

learned from our own students. We know that, with the right approach, teaching children to decode and encode can be relatively simple, fun, and enormously rewarding for both students and teachers.

Throughout this book, we usually refer to reading in terms of decoding. But this is not to suggest that we consider the two words (reading and decoding) to be synonymous. Nothing could be further from the truth. Decoding refers to the process by which students are able to look at the arbitrary visual symbols that we call letters and translate them into spoken words. Colloquially, this process is referred to as sounding out. Reading, on the other hand, is an infi nitely more complex cognitive process that carries implications far beyond the mere recitation of words on a page.

In order for students to be highly skilled as readers, they must be able to understand, interpret, and critically examine the message inherent in a text. However, like any other complex skill, reading can be broken down into requisite sub-skills. Let us examine reading from a top-down perspective. Please note that this discussion is not intended to be comprehensive or refl ective of the considerable complexities of the overall reading process. Rather, it is intended to enable us to deconstruct and examine discrete elements of the process.

Let us begin by asking ourselves the following question: if our students are to become highly skilled readers, what knowledge and skills must they acquire? They must be able to (a) understand what they read and (b) apply critical and analytical thinking skills to texts. Skilled reading can therefore be broken down as shown in fi gure I.1.

Let us now turn our attention to the knowledge and skills that are required for students to be able to comprehend what they read. Reading comprehension implies three elements. First, students must be able to decode text fl uently. Second, they must have well-developed background knowledge to be able to connect with the text as well as suffi cient knowledge of the vocabulary that they will encounter. And, third, they must have well-developed comprehension skills. These elements are represented in fi gure I.2.

Reading Comprehension Critical and Analytical Thinking Skills

SKILLED READING

Figure I.1: Skilled Reading

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5

Now, let’s examine the term fl uency in decoding more closely. What are the knowledge and skills that students need to acquire in order to decode text fl uently? As shown in fi gure I.3 (page 6), students need (a) a thorough knowledge of the alphabetic code and (b) well-developed phonemic awareness skills.

The model identifi ed in fi gures I.1, I.2, and I.3 is highly simplistic and thus cannot possibly do justice to the complexity of the reading process. It does, however, demonstrate the importance of decoding skills to a child’s acquisition of skilled reading. This is a top-down model, but if we are to teach our students the sub-skills necessary to be skilled readers, we need to approach reading instruction from the bottom up, for, if children lack phonemic awareness and alphabetic coding skills, they are necessarily unable to decode. If children are unable to decode, their comprehension skills are adversely affected; and, without the ability to comprehend what they read, students have no hope of becoming highly skilled readers.

We do not claim that this book represents a comprehensive reading program. We recognize that any good reading program incorporates effective instruction in all the elements discussed so far (critical and analytical thinking skills, activating background knowledge, vocabulary development, comprehension skills, fl uency, decoding), as well as guided practice that teaches students to integrate them. Rather, in this book, we focus on decoding (reading) and its reciprocal skill, encoding (spelling). Our goal is to help you, the teacher, develop the knowledge and skills needed to effectively assess and teach phonemic awareness and alphabetic coding skills, thus enabling your students, in turn, to become skilled decoders and encoders.

In chapter 1, we investigate phonemic awareness and its link to reading and spelling (decoding and encoding). In chapter 2, we explore the relationship between phonemic awareness and the related terms phonological awareness, phonics, and alphabetic coding. In chapter 3, we introduce a variety of simple, classroom-developed activities that require few materials and minimal preparation. These activities will help your students master the phonemic skills of blending and segmenting, and will reinforce their

Introduction

Fluency in Decoding

READING COMPREHENSION

Comprehension SkillsBackground and Vocabulary Knowledge

Figure I.2: Reading Comprehension

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6 A Sound Approach

decoding and encoding skills in a manner that is fun and success-based. In chapter 4, we demonstrate in a series of lesson plans how to apply blending and segmenting to reading and spelling. The lesson plans follow a systematic, logically sequenced approach that links phonemic awareness to phonics and teaches beginning readers and struggling readers, alike, the fundamentals of decoding and encoding.

Chapters 3 and 4 and the appendix provide you with a host of resources and reproducible materials that will enable you to begin incorporating phonemic awareness and alphabetic coding instruction into your literacy program without delay. These materials include reproducible assessments, sound cards, word cards, and short-vowel cue cards, as well as action pages, pictures pages, words-and-pictures pages, and story starters and riddles.

Throughout chapters 3 and 4 we include sidebars, all entitled Research to Practise, which recount some of our classroom experiences as well as our interactions with other educators in the context of our professional-development workshops. These items are intended to respond to common questions and concerns, to give you a “feel” for this approach to reading and spelling instruction, and to generally help you to learn from our mistakes. We hope you fi nd these sidebars both entertaining and enlightening.

If you are relatively new to teaching, or if you are new to teaching a phonemically driven approach to reading and spelling, you may wish to read the book from cover to cover. The same holds true if you are interested in an in-depth examination of the topics phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, alphabetic coding, decoding, and encoding. If, however, you are familiar with the rationale for this approach, you may simply wish to fl ip to chapters 3 and 4 and make use of the instructional strategies that we present. Feel free to copy the reproducible materials in the appendix as they are, or modify them to better suit your needs and the needs of your students.

Many of the lessons in chapter 4 are scripted for you. Our rationale for this is simple. First, we consider specifi c examples to be illustrations rather than mere instructions. Second, we believe it important that a certain type of language be used. This language is not always comfortable, nor does it come

Knowledge of the Alphabetic Code Phonemic Awareness Skills

DECODING

Figure I.3: Decoding

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7

naturally at fi rst. In our early days of using a phonemically driven approach, we would often fi nd ourselves sitting in front of our students and feeling completely tongue-tied. After too many such experiences, we began scripting the lessons for ourselves, writing out little “cheat sheets” that we could refer to if we became stuck in the middle of a lesson. If you are already familiar with the language patterns we present in this book, you may wish to consider these scripts just as starting points or guidelines for your own lessons. If, on the other hand, you are like us in our younger days, you may choose to follow closely the scripts offered here.

It is our hope that you fi nd the materials and activities included in this book easy to understand, fun, and easy to implement. Mastering phonemic awareness, decoding, and encoding skills is of vital importance to your students as they develop as readers and spellers. Our classroom experiences have demonstrated that the activities we present are inherently enjoyable for students and enormously rewarding for teachers.

Heather Kenny

Introduction

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30 A Sound Approach

Tabl

e 2.

5: R

ecom

men

ded

Sequ

ence

of I

nstr

ucti

on fo

r B

lend

ing,

Seg

men

ting

, Dec

odin

g, a

nd E

ncod

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Gra

de L

evel

E

nd-

of-Y

ear

Obj

ecti

ves

Page

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mbe

rs

K

✓

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ents

will

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nd b

e ab

le to

rec

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the

mos

t com

mon

sou

nds

asso

ciat

ed w

ith

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26 le

tter

s of

the

alph

abet

. Le

sson

1.1

(90

–93)

✓

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le to

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itor

ally

dis

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e be

twee

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l sho

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ng k

ines

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onic

cue

s

Act

ivit

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3 (4

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)

as

nee

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–93)

✓

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uden

ts w

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le to

ble

nd, s

egm

ent*

, rea

d an

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wo

and

thre

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(V

C a

nd C

VC

) th

at e

mpl

oy

Act

ivit

y 2.

4 (4

6–47

)

on

e-to

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map

ping

pat

tern

s.

Less

on 1

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93–9

4)

Less

on 1

.3 (

94–9

5)

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on 1

.4 (

95–9

6)

Less

on 1

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96)

✓

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ith

guid

ance

, stu

dent

s w

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se d

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skill

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tify

unk

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net

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rapi

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tom

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ity.

* A

ctiv

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2.3

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✓

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nize

and

be

able

to r

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d th

e fo

llow

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digr

aphs

: sh,

ch,

th, c

k, e

r, ir

, or,

ur, a

r.*

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99)

Le

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1–10

3)

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com

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an

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llabl

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VC

, CC

CV

C, C

VC

C, C

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CC

,

Less

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99)

CC

CV

CC

wor

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usi

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ll fa

mili

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*.

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mpl

e w

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on 2

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raph

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net

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pell

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atte

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Less

on 3

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103–

104)

Le

sson

3.3

(10

4–10

5)

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on 3

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se d

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as a

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mar

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tifi

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neti

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prox

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ions

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d us

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ng

Less

on 3

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106)

and

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mar

cue

s to

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fi rm

the

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ning

of u

nkno

wn

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ds w

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pend

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✓

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uden

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mat

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nven

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r ow

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riti

ng.*

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sson

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(10

5–10

6)

Not

e: A

lthou

gh th

ey a

re n

ot r

epre

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n th

is ta

ble,

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y ol

der

read

ers

who

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stru

gglin

g—th

ose

beyo

nd s

econ

d gr

ade—

will

also

nee

d di

rect

, tar

gete

d in

stru

ctio

n in

ph

onem

ic a

war

enes

s, a

lpha

betic

cod

ing,

dec

odin

g, a

nd e

ncod

ing

skill

s. F

or th

ese

stude

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we

stron

gly

reco

mm

end

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you

ass

ess

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r kn

owle

dge

and

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l prio

r to

pl

anni

ng in

struc

tiona

l int

erve

ntio

ns. (

Repr

oduc

ible

Pho

nem

ic A

war

enes

s an

d A

lpha

betic

Cod

ing

asse

ssm

ents

can

be

foun

d on

pag

es 1

07 to

115

.)

*The

se a

re c

ruci

al s

kills

that

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er-d

evel

oped

in s

trugg

ling

read

ers.

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38 A Sound Approach

Teacher I am going to count all the sounds in someone’s name except for the last one. I want you to tell me the last sound. Ready? Diane. /D/-/i/-/a/…(The teacher extends one finger for each sound as she says them and then holds up a fourth finger, indicating that the students are to respond.)

Students /n/

Variation 8: Have students provide the last two sounds in each name. For example:

Teacher I’m going to say the first few sounds in a name and, when I hold up my fingers, I want you to tell me the last two sounds. Watch my fingers. Ready? Lisa: /L/-/ee/…(The teacher extends one finger, indicating that the students are to respond.)

Students /s/ (The teacher extends a second finger, indicating that the students are to respond.)

Students /a/

Activity 1.2: Blending Categories

Blending categories is a game that is very effective for students who are just learning to blend and for students who are struggling with the concept of blending. This activity can be used with large groups, small groups, or pairs.

Materials

• a list of categorized words; you may select a category of words based on a theme or a random category from the list on pages 51 and 52, or simply make up a list of your own

Instructions

Identify a category of words for your students and invite them to blend a word within that category. For example:

Teacher I’m going to say the sounds in the names of some animals. I want you to tell me the animals. The first one is /d/-/o-/g/. What animal it is?

Students dog

Continue with other words in the same category.

Extensions

Extension 1: Challenge students to think of words in a given category. Invite them to take turns segmenting the words and “being the teacher.”

RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

After graphing the number of sounds in students’ names one afternoon in her kindergar-ten class, Heather gave her students the following instruc-tions: “If you have fi ve sounds in your name, go and line up for gym. If you have four sounds in your name, go and line up for gym.” The gym teacher, who was waiting at the class-room door, overheard and was impressed. “Wow!” she said. “I’m not sure that I even know how many sounds are in my name!” Without missing a beat, Roberto counted the sounds off on his fi ngers. “/L/-/ew/-/i/-/s/,” he said. “You have four sounds, Mrs. Lewis. You can line up for gym!”


Blending categories is one of the fi rst games that Laura plays when she meets a new group of students. It is very effective in introducing them to blending without overwhelming them. After just one week of playing blending categories, students demonstrate increased confi -dence in blending three-, four-, and fi ve-phoneme words within any given category. This confi -dence prepares them for blending other, unrelated, words.

Sample Pages

kirsten

Highlight

kirsten

Line


39

Extension 2: Ask students to act out or demonstrate a category of actions or emotions. For example, say, “Show me your /h/-/a/-/p/-/p/-/y/ face.”

Activity 1.3: Segmenting Categories

Segmenting is more diffi cult than blending, so it is best not to introduce your students to segmenting until they have experienced success at blending phonemes. Since segmenting can be challenging for some students, be sure to keep modeling both the word and the segmented form of the word until they are able to do it independently. This activity may be used with large groups, small groups, or pairs.

Materials

• a list of categorized words that contain between three and fi ve phonemes (for teacher reference only); you may select a category of words based on a theme or a random category from the lists on pages 51 and 52, or simply make up a list of your own

Instructions

Identify a category of words for your students and invite them to segment a word within that category. For example:

Teacher I’m going to say each sound in a color word. The word is red. The sounds in the word red are /r/-/e/-/d/. (The teacher allows a one-second interval between each sound. She counts the sounds on her fingers as she says them aloud.) What word did I just say?

Students red (The teacher pinches her fingers together to visually cue the students.)

Teacher Now, say each sound in the word red.

Students /r/-/e/-/d/ (The teacher encourages her students to count the sounds on their fingers as they say the sounds aloud, then blend the sounds back together.) red

Continue with other words in the same category.

Extensions

Extension 1: As your students become profi cient, you may choose not to model the answer. For example, simply ask, “Who can tell us the sounds in a color word?”

Extension 2: Ask your students to act out an emotion (happy, sad, excited, surprised, angry). For example, “Say the sounds in the word happy with a happy face.” Or, “Say the sounds in the word sad with a sad face.”

Chapter 3: Activities


Heather has been blending and segmenting with her daughter Claire since Claire could speak. Claire’s name, however, was problematic. Heather knew that, in theory, aire is not a single phoneme, but whenever she tried to break it down, it just did not sound right. So Heather treated aire as a sound chunk, segmenting her daughter’s name as /C/-/l/-aire rather than attempting to break up the fi nal chunk and risk distorting the pronunciation. The same held true for several of our kinder-garten and primary students who had the sound chunk aire in their names (Mary, Karen, Aaron). We fi rmly be-lieve that, in the rare instances when you come across a sound chunk that just does not sound right when broken down, it is more important to be true to the pro-nunciation of the name than to break it down “correctly” and risk distorting it. The irony of this tale is that, despite “incor-rect” modeling from her mother, once Claire was able to seg-ment her name independently, she segmented it into the four “correct” phonemes.

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LISTS OF CATEGORIZED WORDS

FAMILY MEMBERSmotherfathersisterbrothergrandmagrandpaaunt unclecousin

BODY PARTSlegarmeareyemouthkneeelbowlipsheadtoes

FEELINGShappysadgladmadsillyfunnytiredthirstyupset

COLORSredgreenorangeblueblackwhitepinkbrownyellowpurple

CLOTHINGshirthatpantsskirtdressscarfsweaterjeansbeltmitts

CLASSROOM OBJECTSdeskpencilclockeraserbookpencrayonchalkchair

ITEMS FOUND IN THE KITCHENforkknifespoonfridgestovetablechairpanpotplatebowl

For Activities1.2 and 1.3

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DIRECTIONSupdownunderoverbesideabovenorthsouthwest east

FRUITS AND VEGETABLESappleorangepeachpearplumgrapefruitpeascornlettucebeans

ANIMALSdogcatmousecowhorsepigsheeplambhenchick

NUMBERSonetwothreefourfi vesixseveneightnineten

WEATHER WORDSsunnywindyrainyclearcoldhotwarmcoolsnowyicy

COMMUNITY HELPERSteachernursedoctorbakerbutcherpilot

(page 2 of Lists of Categorized Words)

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Chapter 4: Lesson Plans 103

Step 2: Introduce multiple spelling patterns. For example:

Teacher The sound /er/ can be spelled with the letters, er, ur, and ir. Let’s look at our spelling list (refer to chart paper or overhead). The sounds in the word her are /h/-/er/.

Step 3: Record the sounds in the word her beside the word on the chart paper or overhead transparency (see sample, fi gure 4.3).

Teacher In the word her, the sound /er /is spelled with the letters e and r. Now let’s listen to the sounds in the word sir: /s/ /ir/. (The teacher segments and records sir beside the word sir on the chart paper.) Now, say the word sir.

Students sir

Teacher Let’s count the sounds together. (The teacher extends one finger for each sound as she counts.)

Students /s/ /ir/, sir

Arrange students in small groups and provide each group with a set of word cards for the vowel digraph being taught. Instruct the students to take turns drawing a card, reading the word, and leading the group in segmenting each sound in the word.

Lesson 3.2: Sorting by Spelling Patterns

Materials

• word cards for the vowel digraph being taught (one set per group); fi nd reproducible masters for these between pages 148 and 187

• spelling-sounds sorting mat (one per group); fi nd this as a reproducible master on page 188 (if you wish, use a photocopier to enlarge it to 11" x 14")

• a copy of the spelling-the-sound sheet for the vowel digraph being taught, reprinted on chart paper or overhead transparency

Instructions

Have students sort cards according to the spelling of the sounds. Prepare playing cards by cutting out the individual word cards and laminating them. Make a pile. Pass out a spelling-sounds sorting mat to each student and instruct them as follows:

Teacher Today we’re going to sort words according to the spelling of our new sound. Which new sound did we learn?

Student /er/

Sample Pages

kirsten

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104 A Sound Approach

Teacher Right! Let’s write that sound at the top of the page. (The teacher writes /er/ in the appropriate place on his or her sorting mat, and one student in each group does the same on their copy.) The sound /er/ can be spelled with er, ir, or ur. Let’s write in those spellings. (The teacher writes each of the spelling patterns at the top of his or her column, and one student in each group does the same on their copy.)

Draw the top card from the pile of word cards and hold it up so that the students can see it. For example:

Teacher The first word is her. The sounds in the word her are /h/ /er/. How is the sound /er/ in the word her spelled?

Student e…r

Teacher I’m going to put the word her under the heading er on my sorting mat. (The teacher writes her in the appropriate column.) Now I want you to use your word cards to sort each word according to the way the sound /er/ is spelled.

Have your students work in pairs or small groups to sort the word cards according to the spelling of the selected sound and place the words in the appropriate column on their sorting mats. For additional practice, encourage students to orally segment and read each word aloud before sorting.

Lesson 3.3: Segmenting and Recording Words

Materials

• a spelling-the-sounds sheet for the vowel digraph being taught (one copy per student); fi nd reproducible masters for these between pages 147 and 184

• spelling-sounds sorting mat (one copy per student); fi nd a reproducible master for this on page 188

Instructions

Have students record words according to the spellings of the sounds. Provide each student with a spelling-the-sound sheet for the appropriate sound and a spelling-sounds sorting mat. Instruct students to (1) read the list of words; (2) segment each word into individual sounds; (3) spell the sounds on the lines beside each word; (4) circle the letters that spell the new sound in each word; (5) write each word in the appropriate column on the sorting mat.

Note that the sounds /ay/, /ie/, and /ue/ can be spelled with vowel-consonant-e. For example, in the word cape, the /ay/ is spelled with a-consonant-e. After segmenting and recording the word cape, draw an arrow from the e to the a


Students particularly enjoy play-ing the sound-sorting game. This “hands-on” activity is appeal-ing and equally benefi cial to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

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SPELLING-THE-SOUND SHEETThe Vowel Digraph /er/ with er, ir, ur

her _____ _____

sir _____ _____

fur _____ _____

hurt _____ _____ _____

bird _____ _____ _____

third _____ _____ _____

under _____ _____ _____ _____

after _____ _____ _____ _____

burst _____ _____ _____ _____

thirst _____ _____ _____ _____

enter _____ _____ _____ _____

swirl _____ _____ _____ _____

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her sir fur hurt bird third under after

SPELLING THE SOUND /er/ with er, ir, ur

WORD CARDS FOR THE VOWEL DIGRAPHS

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burst thirst enter swirl fern turn first shirt

SPELLING THE SOUND /er/ with er, ir, ur

WORD CARDS FOR THE VOWEL DIGRAPHS

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SPEL

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For Lessons 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5

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Documents

Using Phonemic Awareness to Teach Reading and Spelling · A SOUND APPROACH Using Phonemic Awareness to Teach Reading and Spelling Laura A. Robbins and Heather A. Kenny Illustrated